THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1978
Page 9
'amily sport easier, cheaper
Cross-country skiing ‘catches’
Wi
United Press International
IA1BANY, N. — Cross-country
■ng appears headed for its biggest
^■on ever, with many of its newest
Mverts downhill skiiers tired of
B-hour lift lines and ticket prices
Trjng up to $16 a day.
; ‘Ross-country touring centers es-
Tite that business has doubled in
[past two or three years and no
Ldown is evident.
jAs one new convert in Albany put
fit’s easy, cheap and a good ex-
1 to get outdoors in the winter.
;ost certainly is among the major
;ors in cross country’s growing
ularity, especially where families
involved. To ski all day on
omed cross-country trails costs
rally $2 to $3 per person.
And many centers have season
Passes like those offered by the Be-
resford Farms in Altamont, about 20
miles outside Albany. For a family
the season pass is $30 — well below
what it would cost most families to
downhill ski for one day.
I he Beresfbrd touring center is on
an 800-acre sod farm. Business has
doubled every year for the past three
years, according to owners Jon and
Barbara Beresford. “One reason it’s
catching is that it s a real family
sport, you can do it as a family unit,”
says Beresford, father of five who
ought to know.
Equipment, too, is much less ex
pensive. A good set of skis, poles and
boots can be purchased for under
$125, and a skier would really have to
igh price skiing
ay thin crowds
United Press International
lENVER — The rapidly rising
of downhill skiing may force
: enthusiastsm of the sport and
luse ski areas to rethink their
essor j.flices, says a top industry executive,
e." Besids [At the start of the 1978-79 season,
ties for fontt Mitchell, executive director
f( nado Ski Country USA, said
e' es no end to the price escala-
Imthe fen
I thinb i!“Anybody who pays $15 a day de-
Hes to, said Mitchell in an inter-
IM®. “They haven’t shopped. Damn
ban Hhoflt, the people should shop be-
He the bargains are there,
s, Iget kV I and the Aspen Complex, in
write !Ming Aspen Highlands, Aspen
■intain, Buttermilk and Snow-
lat it is:*, are charging $ 15 this season for
ult toseiBl-day, all-lifts, adult pass. The
■pest ticket in Colorado is $4 at
rears as pquistador.
'eratlwtah ski prices range from $12 at
hedin firk City and Snowbird to $3 at Blue
ars ag( Bintain. Jackson Hole in VVyom-
lecause k is charging $15 for the tramway
ty, the |ass this year.
diningJllhe increasing costs of skiing at-
iganyl itted the attention of Sen. Floyd
■kell, D-Colo., who was con-
ild be iuBed about the method of granting
solelyiraBhikes to ski areas on public land,
nysten tost of them in the West,
g and oifc bill, passed by the Senate in
me free* and 1978 but killed in the
n a dectiBse, would have called for greater
■cipation by the public when a
ey asawBrea applies for a rate increase. It
najority ihlikely the bill will be presented
i Bi next year because Haskell was
if the nBated in the Nov. 7 election,
ard travtBfan area wants to raise rates, it’s
anwrifoMially a rubber stamp process,’
ve totiwJimTherell, Haskell’s legislative
e one«»tant. “We feel this rubber stamp
f Btude has helped promote higher
s.
o,ith the cost of equipment,
mghtlie®sportation, clothing, food and
therlani'Ring also going up, some skiers
vebeentBeve the industry is pricing itself
ern E W ( >f business.
jandkltwhchell thinks the industry will
etiringi another look at the price struc-
heishwTsfci areas see business dvon-
koff.
:iren»whe cost of skiing is apt to go up,
to travfW Mitchell. “The higher it does,
?, thfjsi m °re likely customers are to re-
e, with If the number of times they go
Pgor give up the sport entirely.
pVf 1 f^en, said Mitchell, the industry
I\1 • | Start £' v * n S people more choices
^ » ? 0 P tions hi buying tickets.
CltMH r ltclle ^ suggested tickets by the
I. ora price variety within a given
rTerin “abased on slope desirability.
ry2 |^°u can take one ride on the Vail
822-S P doia hi the summer so why not in
itionft f winterrl he said. “One reason
ineyland does so well is because it
, f s People options. They pay the
fc^^Wjicnce to ride on the good rides,
jjitchell said most ski areas al-
Py offer a variety of ticket pro-
•JM m He said other bargains could
l oun ^ through ski shops and ski
ll k*j° n ly reason we exist is to
lh g discounts to members,” said
y Feagin, winter social chairman
f pfnamba
Eddie Dominguez ’66
Joe Arciniega ’74
| )u w ant the real
®’ no, frozen or
Lr • • We call It
® xlc an Food
prerDe/*
^ 'ocation:
of the Fagowee Ski Club in Denver.
“We just don’t do things if we don’t
get a discount.”
Feagin said the ski clubs get dis
counts on tickets, transportation,
meals and accomodations.
There is buying power by getting
groups together,” she said. “We can
pugmer package weekends that are a
lot lower — 25 percent or more —
th an if we did it on our own.”
Keystone in the central Colorado
Rockies put out an entire pamphlet
on ways to save.
“We at Keystone believe that the
cost of skiing has risen too high
today, so we are doing something
about it,’ the pamphlet begins. It
then lists ticket packages that will
be honored when facilities are not
full.
Pam Stenmark, director of the
Copper Mountain, Colo., Ski Insti
tute and a cousin of Olympic skier
Ingmar Stenmark, said skiers can
save money by planning ahead, Ipok-
ing for group transportation, review
ing terms of special fare programs
and not staying in the center of ski
areas.
Cost savings programs in Utah in
clude several multi-day packages.
Snow Basin offers a ticket good for 10
rides. The Utah Ski Association sells
a Ski Utah Gold Pass for $600 that
entitles a buyer to ski at any Utah
resort throughout the season.
work to spend more than $150, com
pared to an average cost of $400 to
$500 for downhill essentials.
Cross-country enthusiasts also are
likely to scorn the “fashion show”
atmosphere of many downhill ski re
sorts. While both sports can be per
formed with clothes pulled from
most closets, bright and expensive
skisuits are the rule, rather than the
exception, on downhill slopes. A
good pair of knickers is probably the
only clothes investment most cross
country skiers make.
Time and availability are also big
factors. A cross-country skier can
snap on his boots for a quick morning
spin across a local golf course, get
ting in one hour the same amount of
exercise it might take all day to get
skiing downhill, after a long ride to
a ski resort.
And, unlike downhill, the basics
can be picked up in less than two
hours of instruction, for another nifty
saving.
Many dyed-in-the-wool downhill
skiers scoff at comparisons between
the two sports. On the ground there
is no “thrill” or “gut challenge” in
tracking across an open field, even
darting among trees following a
track.
But a growing legion are finding
separate pleasures in each, and are
combining the two on ski vacations,
often skiing downhill on less-
crowded workdays and opting for
cross-country on the weekends, or
putting in one day of each per
weekend.
Some converts to cross-country
have found a new challenge in “Citi
zen’s Races” sponsored by major
centers, similar to “NASTAR” races
for downhillers. Like joggers, true
cross-country devotees are condi
tioning fanatics.
In Stowe, Vt., giants of each sport
often share the same clientele. Mt.
Mansfield is one of the oldest and
most diversified downhill resorts in
the East, while the Trapp Family
Lodge, with 65 miles of cross
country trails not far from the base of
Mansfield, was one of the first ski
touring centers in the United States
when it began in 1969.
Business at the Trapp center has
doubled in the past three years and
the clientele has broken out from the
more rugged types, nicknamed the
“granola group’’ to include the
“beautiful people wearing the latest
in downhill fashions — or the “wet
look.”
The business was launched by
Baroness Maria Von Trapp, upon
whose life the “Sound of Music” was
based, and her son Johannes. Mrs.
Von Trapp, 72, still cross-country
skis every day during the winter.
Many skiers who left the downhill
world for the more serene and se
cluded joys of cross-country skiing
are a little concerned they could end
up as jostled and crowded as before,
if the cross-country rage persists.
However, as cross-country skiers
become more expert, they can strike
out on their own into virgin territory,
enabling them to commune with na
ture unperterbed by others.
Many ski touring centers are mak
ing their trails one-way or setting up
dual lanes just like a divided high
way, to avoid traffic jams of skiers.
The “Adirondack Lodge” in New
York’s Adirondacks, not far from
Lake Placid, the scene of the 1980
Winter Olympics, offers a chance to
really get away from it all. The lodge,
run in conjunction with the Adiron
dack Mountain Club, maintains 10
miles of trails and charges nothing,
except a $1 parking fee.
“It’s a different type of thrill than
downhill. You’re by yourself, on
your own in the high peaks,” ex
plained Rick Davis, the wilderness
recreation director who often serves
as a guide for ski-touring groups. “It
requires a much greater degree of
self-reliance, there’s no ski patrol
behind every bush.
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